You are an addict. Oh yes you are.
Everyone’s addicted to something.
Food, sex, money, drugs, knowledge, soap operas, cleaning, shopping, arguing, traveling, sleeping, working, exercising, collecting, building, reading, drawing, sewing, sports, music, computers, etc. etc. etc. I’m talking about the habit that we routinely succumb to and feel blissful about, day after day. It’s what we like to do to break the monotony of the other everyday routines that we are forced to do. In fact, that’s why addictions are so appealing and most everyone falls into one. We have all been ingrained from a young age to do everything in a routine. Get up, triple S, eat, go to school/work, come back, eat, sleep and repeat. And even those things have micro routines of there own. So it’s only natural for one to develop a routine of something UNECESSARY in their lives to offset the boring NECESSARY rituals of the day (the difference here being that I go to work everyday, but I’m not addicted to it).
Addictions are actually a part of everyone’s lives, whether or not they want to admit it. The argument against this is that not all addictions are bad. And of course an addiction to reading is far better than an addiction to heroin. But what if the heroin addict comes to an epiphany that completely changes their lives around for the betterment of society? And what if the intense reader is influenced so strongly by a literary work that they rise to power and go to war with other nations preaching those ideals? What if the person who is addicted to traveling gets mugged in a foreign city and killed? And the sleeper misses her opportunity to be someone because she was constantly in bed? Or the TV watcher misses their children growing up which influences their children for long years afterwards. Or the sports addict becomes paralyzed?
The point I’m trying to make with this is that I seriously doubt that people can make an unbiased judgment of the usefulness of their own addiction. How do you know it’s not bad? How do you know that if you were out doing something else that something far better would’ve happened to your life than just wash, rinse, repeat (again, this does not apply to hygienic routines such as showering and brushing your teeth). Some addictions cause more immediate harm than others, and some are more physically noticeable, such as obesity. BUT, in the end, one must admit to themselves when they are addicted to something because continuing any addiction without tolerance, I believe, is bad, however safe it may seem. At the very least it can be said that without moderation you risk missing all the other wonderful things in this life that you may never try because you’re busy feeding your addiction. Just think about it: you can almost always remember the first time you did that what you are addicted to. It was so special. You loved it so much that you had to do it again. But I bet you can’t remember the 131st time you did that same thing.
So just make it a point today, tomorrow, or sometime next week. During the usual allotted time slot that you have dedicated to feed your addiction, just do something you’ve never done before but always wanted to. But don’t fall into the same trap. Addicts are able to switch their addictions quite easily.
Food, sex, money, drugs, knowledge, soap operas, cleaning, shopping, arguing, traveling, sleeping, working, exercising, collecting, building, reading, drawing, sewing, sports, music, computers, etc. etc. etc. I’m talking about the habit that we routinely succumb to and feel blissful about, day after day. It’s what we like to do to break the monotony of the other everyday routines that we are forced to do. In fact, that’s why addictions are so appealing and most everyone falls into one. We have all been ingrained from a young age to do everything in a routine. Get up, triple S, eat, go to school/work, come back, eat, sleep and repeat. And even those things have micro routines of there own. So it’s only natural for one to develop a routine of something UNECESSARY in their lives to offset the boring NECESSARY rituals of the day (the difference here being that I go to work everyday, but I’m not addicted to it).
Addictions are actually a part of everyone’s lives, whether or not they want to admit it. The argument against this is that not all addictions are bad. And of course an addiction to reading is far better than an addiction to heroin. But what if the heroin addict comes to an epiphany that completely changes their lives around for the betterment of society? And what if the intense reader is influenced so strongly by a literary work that they rise to power and go to war with other nations preaching those ideals? What if the person who is addicted to traveling gets mugged in a foreign city and killed? And the sleeper misses her opportunity to be someone because she was constantly in bed? Or the TV watcher misses their children growing up which influences their children for long years afterwards. Or the sports addict becomes paralyzed?
The point I’m trying to make with this is that I seriously doubt that people can make an unbiased judgment of the usefulness of their own addiction. How do you know it’s not bad? How do you know that if you were out doing something else that something far better would’ve happened to your life than just wash, rinse, repeat (again, this does not apply to hygienic routines such as showering and brushing your teeth). Some addictions cause more immediate harm than others, and some are more physically noticeable, such as obesity. BUT, in the end, one must admit to themselves when they are addicted to something because continuing any addiction without tolerance, I believe, is bad, however safe it may seem. At the very least it can be said that without moderation you risk missing all the other wonderful things in this life that you may never try because you’re busy feeding your addiction. Just think about it: you can almost always remember the first time you did that what you are addicted to. It was so special. You loved it so much that you had to do it again. But I bet you can’t remember the 131st time you did that same thing.
So just make it a point today, tomorrow, or sometime next week. During the usual allotted time slot that you have dedicated to feed your addiction, just do something you’ve never done before but always wanted to. But don’t fall into the same trap. Addicts are able to switch their addictions quite easily.
posted by -R at 3:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home